Category Archives: Nigeria

Guardian editorial on Welcome to Lagos

The scheduling has done this documentary series no favours. Welcome to Lagos has coincided each Thursday night with an event, the TV debate between the three party leaders, which has not only turned this election on its head, but which may have changed politics in this country forever. If you can ignore history being made… Read More »

Nigeria’s foreign trade policy

From a BusinessDay Nigeria column: [O]ur trade policy has remained very inconsistent many years after independence. Recent reforms – particularly the NEEDS – have however tried to considerably minimize the unpredictability of the trade policy regime by establishing a schedule to fully adopt the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) common external tariff (CET)… Read More »

Nigeria: Senate approves $31 bln budget for 2010

Reuters: Nigeria’s Senate approved a 4.608 trillion naira budget proposal for 2010 on Thursday, up from an initial 4.079 trillion naira spending plan proposed by the presidency. The budget assumes an average oil price of $67 per barrel and oil production of 2.35 million barrels per day. It also pegs the exchange rate at 150 naira… Read More »

Should we take Gaddafi seriously? (cont)

The concluding paragraph of Peter Akinlabi’s Beyond Gadaffi: Nigeria, Federalism and Other Quicksands: We can intellectualize these things all we want, but there are no more startling discoveries to be made as far as the causes of violence in northern Nigeria are concerned. Olakunle Abimbola’s getting a lot of verbal bashing (sentimental fool, people like… Read More »

Should we take Gaddafi seriously?

My friend and sociology lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Oka Obono: Nigeria was furious. It recalled its ambassador, told Libya off, and escalated what could have passed for hot air into substance for a diplomatic war. It forgot that its own security forces had failed to maintain peace in the affected area; that they… Read More »

A really good analysis of the Jos crisis

This is from Tatalo Alamo, writing for the Nation: Taking inspiration from the conflict tree paradigm, we can say that while the immediate cause and outward foliage of the Jos crisis is economic, ie a conflict arising from allocation of scarce resources and the distribution of political patronage, the root causes are cultural and historical.… Read More »

Nigeria: Who needs a president, again

Would ordinary Nigerians have felt Yar’Adua’s absence? Since the experience of the Nigerian state for most Nigerians is limited to demands for bribes by officials and policemen, the government and who is running it is of little consequence to them. Everything positive in their lives is achieved by themselves in spite of the ruling elite… Read More »